An Outback Marriage Banjo Paterson (philippa perry book .txt) đ
- Author: Banjo Paterson
Book online «An Outback Marriage Banjo Paterson (philippa perry book .txt) đ». Author Banjo Paterson
âGood Lord,â said Hugh. âWonât they be shot out?â
âNot they. Thereâs about eight thousand of âem shot every year for their hides, and itâs just like the ordinary increase of a big cattle station. Theyâre all over these plains, and for miles and miles away down the coast, and in the jungles thereâs thousands of âem. Thereâs jungles here that are a hundred miles round, and no animal but a buffalo will go into âem. The blacks say that inside them thereâs big patches of clear plain, with grass and water, where thereâs buffaloes as thick as bees; but you canât get at âem.â
âHow do you shoot âem?â said Hugh.
âRace right up alongside âem, and put the carbine out with one hand, and shoot downwards into the loin. Thatâs the only way to drop âem. You can shoot bullets into âem by the hatful everywhere else, and they just turn and charge; and while you are dodging round, first you huntinâ the buffalo, and then the buffalo huntinâ you, the rest of the mob are out of sight. You must go right up alongside, close enough to touch âem with the barrel, and fire downâ âso.â He illustrated with the carbine as he spoke. âAnd whatever you do, donât pull your horse about; he knows the game, if you donât. Never stop your horse near a wounded buffalo, either. They make a rush as sudden as lightninâ. They look clumsy and big; but, my oath, a wounded one can hop along something wonderful! Theyâll surprise you for pace any time; but most of all when theyâre wounded.â
âDo they always come at you when theyâre wounded?â said Hugh.
âAlways,â said the shooter, âand very often when theyâre not wounded theyâll turn and charge if youâve run âem a long way. You want to look out, I tell you. Theyâll wheel very sudden, and if they ketch your horse theyâll grind him into pulp. Ben, my mate here, had a horse killed under him last weekâ âhorse we gave five and twenty quid for, and thatâs a long shot for a buffalo horse. I believe in Injia they shoot âem off elephants, but thatâs âcause they wonât come out in the open like they do here. Thereâs hundreds of toffs in England and Injiaâd give their ears for a day after these, you know. Hello! Look! See there!â
Far away out on the plain Hugh saw fifteen or twenty bluish-grey mounds in a line rising above the grass; it was a herd of buffalo feeding. The animals never lifted their heads, and were curiously like a lot of railway trucks covered with grey tarpaulin. It was impossible to tell which was head and which was tail. A short halt was made while girths were tightened, cartridges slipped into place, and hats jammed on; they all mounted and rode slowly towards the herd, which was at least half a mile off, and still feeding steadily. Everyone kept his horse in hand, ready for a dash the moment the mob lifted their heads.
âHow fast will they go?â whispered Hugh to the nearest shooter.
âFast as blazes. Youâve no idea how fast they are. Theyâre the biggest take-in there is. When they lift their heads theyâll stare for half a minute, and then theyâll run. The moment they start, off you go. Watch âem! Thereâs one sees us! Keep steady yetâ âdonât rush till they start.â
One of the blue mounds lifted a huge black-muzzled head, decorated with an enormous pair of sickle-shaped horns that stretched right back to the shoulders. He stared with great sullen eyes and trotted a few paces towards them; one after another, the rest lifted their heads and stared too. Closer drew the horsemen at their steady, silent jog, the horses pricking their ears and getting on their toes as racehorses do at the start of a race.
âBe ready,â said the shooter. âNow!â
The mob, with one impulse, wheeled, and set off at a heavy lumbering gallop, and the horses dashed in full gallop after them. It was a ride worth a year of a manâs life. Every man sat down to his work like a jockey finishing a race, and the big stock horses went through the long grass like hawks swooping down on a flock of pigeons. The men carried their carbines loaded, holding them straight up over the shoulder so as to lessen the jerking of the wrist caused by the gallop.
The surface of the plain was level enough, but frightfully bad going; the sun had baked the black soil till great gaping cracks, a couple of feet wide and ten feet deep, were opened in the ground. The buffaloes had wallowed in the wet season and made round well-like holes that were now hard, dry pitfalls. Here and there a treacherous, slimy watercourse wound its slinking way along, making a bog in which a horse would sink to his shoulders; and over all these traps and pitfalls the long waving jungle-grass drew a veil. Every now and then belts of small bamboo were crossed, into which the horses dashed blindly, forcing their way through by their weight. When they started the buffaloes had a lead of a quarter of a mile, and judging by their slogging, laboured gallop, it looked as though the horses would run into them in half a mile; but on that ground the buffaloes could go nearly as fast as the horses, and it was only after a mile and a quarter of hard riding that they closed in on the mob, which at once split into several detachments. A magnificent old bull, whose horns
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